Monday, May 25, 2015

Last month had a whole bunch of New 52 collections -- though I guess we almost can't call them that any more -- and now the September/October 2015 DC Comics hardcover and trade paperback collection releases (posted May 2015) have the opposite; almost no new collections, with an emphasis on reprint material. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it makes for a sparse month relatively.

I would mention that while the Convergence collections aren't solicited yet, they are due in the same month as many of these collections, October, so that might help round out the month when all is said and done. But let's take a look at what we've got so far:

In a group of solicitations that doesn't have much in the way of brand-new material, most assuredly the star is the deluxe collection of all nine Multiversity issues plus the Multiversity Guidebook.

I'm glad the final volume of Futures End lands the month before (Futures End in September, Multiversity in October) so that I can read them "in order," so to speak. And no waiting -- the Convergence collections will also be along on October, so it's not a long wait to finish this whole story once the end is in sight.

Deluxe Crisis on Infinite Earths in the same month as the Multiversity and Convergence collections is a nice touch. Who could've predicted back in 1986 we'd end up here?

No doubt meant to coincide with interest spurred by the new movie, Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Trial by Fire has the same contents as the edition of the same released in 2011. As we've discussed here before, that first collection of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad was meant to be followed by a second, The Nightshade Odyssey, but that book was canceled. I bought Trial originally so I'm disinclined to buy it again, but this has got to be one of those times that pre-ordering matters if we're to see more volumes of Ostrander's run.

UPDATE: A new edition of Suicide Squad Vol. 2: The Nighshade Odyssey has just become available for pre-order. Again, I know we've been burned on this one once, but I'm certain that if you want to see these reprints go through, pre-ordering is going to be your friend. (Hat tip to Hix -- check out his Waiting for Doom podcast.)

I haven't yet read an issue of Tony Daniel's new Deathstroke series, so I can't comment whether it's good or not, but anecdotally I can also say that neither have I heard anyone else raving about it. Surely a Deathstroke series is a good and useful thing for the DC Universe (all the more so because however popular a present-day Deathstroke series is, that can only buoy collections of Marv Wolfman's 1990s Deathstroke series), and releasing a Deathstroke mask is obviously a good marketing decision.

I do question the claim of "new, hit series" in this solicitation, however, and wonder which inspired what in this set. Whereas the similar Joker mask was directly brought forth by Scott Snyder's Death in the Family storyline that was collected with the mask, here I have a sense the book is almost incidental (and could as easily have been, for instance, a copy of Identity Crisis, which for all its flaws has one of the top ten best Deathstroke fights).

I felt the first handful of Arrow digital comics dragged, basically just echoing the episodes or otherwise being too careful not to step on the toes of what the episodes might establish. I haven't read the Arrow Season 2.5 stories nor Flash Season Zero, but my sense is they're better in those regards, telling fresh stories to some extent off on their own. I'd be especially curious to check out the Flash book, which if I understand correctly takes place more or less before Barry is actually called "the Flash."

Just to establish, this Absolute edition contains exactly the same material as previous Green Lantern/Green Arrow collections. That in no way lessens this collection -- and if you haven't read these staples of DC Comics literature, then you should -- but the first thing I look at when I see these kinds of reprint collections is whether they stuck something new in there, like a Kyle Rayner and Connor Hawke team-up or something. No dice.

New reviews later this week. Be sure to drop by the comments section and let me know what's on your to-buy list for September/October, and what you think of DC Comics's potential new trade dress examined last Friday.

10 comments:

Not necessarily. I think we already knew "New 52" wasn't going to be on the covers anymore because the New 52 was going away. Whether all the books will get a new spine design or not is a whole different question.

*Deadpool by Duggan and Posehn Vol. 4 HC--This contains the last two trades, so while the price might seem a bit steep, keep in mind that this includes the $10 final issue. I'm passing on these hardcovers in the hope that 2016 will bring a full omnibus of the run.

*Star Wars: Princess Leia TPB--Waid, the Dodsons and a shot at seeing a bit of the revamped Star Wars canon with a visit to Sullust? Sold.

*A-Force Presents Vol. 1 TPB--This is a really neat idea that was announced a few months back. It's an anthology of the first issues of Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Female Thor, She-Hulk and Squirrel Girl and is targeted at very new readers who don't know where to start at Marvel. Not only is it a sound marketing strategy, but all six of those issues are excellent in their own right.

*Amazing Spider-Man Volume 4: Graveyard Shift TPB--I'll be getting around to Spider-Verse soon, so finding out that the Ghost has a major role in the title afterwards might keep me on that trajectory through Secret Wars.

*Avengers: Time Runs Out Vol. 1 TPB--In case you're waiting for this to come out.

*Alias Vols. 1 and 2 TPBs--Jessica Jones is the next superhero show from Netflix, although I doubt that series will be as explicit as the source material. At least it's easier to recommend which books to read vs. the volume of Daredevil material.

*Nextwave Ultimate Collection TPB--Now this is interesting. Out of all the series I've seen bandied about as possible locations for Secret Wars, a world based on Nextwave is one that I think we'll sadly never get... unless there's something planned for later. I doubt this is just being solicited due to Elsa Bloodstone's role in Marvel Zombies.

*The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot Second Edition HC: Now that a new story has been added with the potential for more to come, I'll be springing for this new version. I utterly adored the Big Guy and Rusty cartoon long before I found out that it was a comic book adaptation.

*How To Pass As Human HC--Not only is this a guidebook, but it's a guidebook ostensibly written by a robot for other robots, which is weirdly enough a fanfic I tried to write ages ago. This one doesn't feature the Transformers, but it does sound fascinating.

*Prometheus: The Complete Fire and Stone HC--There's no indication on the order of contents as all the mini-series are listed alphabetically, but there's hope. I might end up contacting Dark Horse to find out since $50 for a 13-part crossover plus a bunch of extras might be worth the double-buy.

*The Fifth Beatle TPB--Perhaps I'll get around to reading this now that it's in paperback form. It'll be interested to see who gets cast as the Beatles in the movie version; it's probably too much to hope for Jack Black, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Rudd and Justin Long to reunite.

*X-Files/30 Days of Night: I don't know if I'm going to read this, but I know there's someone on this site who definitely will...

*Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive: This is worth getting for the name alone, but Dr. Bones vs. Dr. Zaius seems like a must-read.

*Transformers: Combiner Wars TPB--We're about halfway into this event right now and it's still a little shaky. Hopefully the introduction of Defensor into the proceedings will right the storyline.

*Airwolf Airstrikes Vol. 1 TPB--I really like IDW's line of revamped 80s shows as comics, but I do have to take issue with them calling Airwolf the "coolest attack chopper ever made", because clearly the true winner is Blue Thunder. Perhaps a versus crossover could be coming?

*Legends of the Geomancer--This isn't a trade, and that's the reason why I'm bringing it up. Apparently this mini-series is a in-store, non-digital, non-collected release as a retail incentive. I'll still grab it, but it ticks me off a bit that they're leaving collected edition readers in the lurch. Maybe they'll be literal and include it in the hardcover instead of the trades.

*X-O Manowar Vol. 9: Dead Hand TPB--The Valiant heroes barely defeated the Armor Hunters and now they have to fight a legion of billions of their death robots. Ain't the universe grand?

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